The present invention relates to vehicle door modules.
Conventional vehicles employ side door assemblies having windows requiring operating hardware which is known as the window regulator. The window and regulator generally occupy a large part of the limited space available within the door assembly. Additional hardware items also conventionally reside in a vehicle door and therefore, must be assembled into the door with the window and regulator in a coordinated manner to avoid interference.
In such door assemblies the window at its fore and aft sides adjacent its bottom edge is generally slidably guided for movement through a pair of stationary guides or glass run channels mounted within the door assembly. The glass run channels engage the window as it moves between a fully open position, in which it is substantially disposed within the door assembly and a fully closed position, in which the majority of the window is located above the belt line of the door assembly.
The window is generally moved between its open and closed positions by a suitable window regulator mechanism. A commonly known type of window regulator is the cross-arm window regulator. This common window regulator is operatively connected to a sash channel which is mounted to the bottom edge of the window thereby permitting the window regulator to effect raising and lowering movement of the window. The window regulator mechanism is typically manually or power operated.
A typical door system also includes interior and exterior handles and a door latch for releasably holding the door in a closed position. Both interior and exterior handles are linked to the latch mechanism to effect release thereof. Interior and exterior lock actuators are also typically provided in the door system which are operatively linked to the latch or handles to selectively prevent the handles from releasing the latch assembly to an open position.
It is known to provide a vehicle door module comprising a panel consisting of structural members and mounting plates for assembling various pieces of door hardware together in a modular form. A conventional module is comprised of a plastic or metal panel onto which the various hardware components are attached.
It is also known to integrate at least one glass run channel into the modular assembly before its installation into a vehicle. However, the integration of glass run channels into a vehicle door module prior to its assembly into the vehicle door has been limited to certain applications. This is because at times, it is not practical to assemble a module into the vehicle's door with the glass run channel attached thereto. This is generally either because the module's insertion is difficult or because the glass run channel interferes with the assembly of other components into the vehicle door when it is pre-attached to the module. Therefore, the benefit of integrating a glass run channel into a vehicle door module prior to its assembly into the vehicle door is not always possible.